


Free as a Bird

by Aunty_Climatic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Pidge, Younger Shiro, green paladin Matt Holt, older pidge | Katie Holt, red paladin shiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-07-23 22:23:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16168061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aunty_Climatic/pseuds/Aunty_Climatic
Summary: Katie was excited to go on the Kerberos Mission with her father and classmate Keith. Sure she would miss her mother and brother, but at least she would be back in a year... Right?





	1. Finch

**Author's Note:**

> On Pinterest there was an image of an Age-Swapped Pidge and Shiro, just recently I found the au on Tumblr with a bit more to go off of. I liked the idea so I thought I'd give it a go including the ideas on Tumblr. Love to hear feedback. If anyone reading this has a Tumblr and follows Sabertoothwalrus, link them to the story please.
> 
> I will try to be doing titles based on birds or concepts that work of that chapter, when it's Keith I may try feline titles, who knows.
> 
> So without further ado, Let the chaos ensue.

 

It was the last home cooked meal of the Holt family, with the two children making fun of their father's acquired taste in dried space food.

"Enjoy your last home cooked meal Katie, after we launch tomorrow, the two of us will be eating nothing but freeze-dried peas for the next two months." Samuel Holt points out to his daughter, who had recently had her 24th birthday.

Katie laughs, "Are you sure you should be including yourself in that assessment dad? After all, we all know how much you enjoy that Garrison crap." The twenty-four year old digs back into the homecooked meal, as the two men continue talking about the trip. It was in preparation for the trip that Katie cut her hair, where it once reached mid back, now only brushes her shoulders.

"I can't wait until tomorrow, but mom, are you sure you'll be fine on your own with only Matt?" She inquires, turning towards Colleen Holt.

"Yes Katie, I'll be fine, I have Gunther here, and your brother is not that bad. And you should be excited for this bonding moment between you and your father. Going off into space, looking for signs of life, all so exciting."

"Alright fine, but I'll try to keep in contact with you as much as I can."

"Fair enough, now don't stay up too late, both of you. It's a busy day tomorrow, and I don't want you missing it because you didn't get enough sleep." Mrs. Holt says as she takes her dishes to the kitchen to clean. Matt's the next to leave. "And for that reason, I'm taking your laptop." He says as he calmly walks out the doorway.

It takes a moment for the words to process, but when they do, Katie launches out of her chair and storms after her junior of 6 years. "Matt! You so much go in my room, and I'll make you regret it the rest of the year!"

Samuel sits back, and enjoys the silence for but a moment before grabbing the rest of the dishes, and meets his wife in the kitchen. "Are you sure you'll be alright without us?" He asks as he helps clean them. "Oh course, it's you I'm more worried about." she says as they hear banging from upstairs and a shouted "MATT!"

"We'll make it work, you'll see."

* * *

It turns out they didn't make it work. Colleen and Matt sit in front of the TV and watch the late-night news report about the failed Kerberos mission, and the missing crew. The explanation given is technology failure leading the ship to crash. The images of her family and their colleague are displayed on the screen, and Holt's cry at the sight of their smiling, ecstatic faces.

The family's Bull Terrier Gunther leans against her leg trying it's best to comfort the woman in the only way it knows how. Matt meanwhile runs up to his room, logging in to his laptop to go over the last email he received from his sister from the ships computer.

_to Matt-Hatter_

_'Promise to bring back a souvenir.'_

_-Pidgeon_

* * *

Katie comes to with her arms help tightly behind her back. After a slight moment of panic of realizing her helmet is off, she looks to the right to see her classmate Keith and father held in much the same position with guns pointed at their heads.

She tries to remember what happened before this moment, but all that comes up is a sensation of floating.

In front of them stands a male with purple skin and pointed ears dressed in dark armor. The being holds a conversation with another on the large screen overhead. Only the silhouette shows through the transmission along with piercing purple eyes.

"We discovered these primitive scientists in the area we were scouting, it is believed that they don't know anything." The one in the immediate area states, and at primitive scientist, she can't help but look around. The tech visible is by far more advanced than at home, but before she can think on it more, the being on the screen replies. "Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation. The druids will find out what they know."

At the word interrogation, she finds her voice, "You can't keep us here! What about our families back home waiting for us! We need to go back!" Just as the last words leave her mouth, she feels a blow delivered to the back of the head, catching her name before all goes black.

When she come to, she's being dragged through a hall way, the one in the spacesuit can only be her Keith, based on the size, and he is pushed along after her, limping, letting her know his temper came to play. Gleaming eyes view them from slits in doors. Words filter into her mind fuzzily, she can make at that their all saying the same thing. 'They brought in another one.'

Another what? she hasn't the foggiest clue, but seeing what lays beyond the large windows is enough to make her head spin and a sense of foreboding to settling into her bones.


	2. Migration

How long has it been since she's seen another human? She thinks of her classmate, taken from her in the first few days of captivity, but for the life of her she can't remember. The moments of escape are fleeing her mind, and she can no longer recall how she did it, but returning home, she thought it would end in a reunion with her mother and brother, or old cadet mates. Well she is meeting old cadet mates, just not the way she envisioned.

She must have blacked out in the escape pod, for when she wakes up, it's strapped down to a table within a dome customary to the Garrison, she should know, she helped design them. Those from the lab department, move around the area.

"Who are you? what are your names?" She shouts out to the crew. the familiar feel of the collar a comfort in the situation, letting her know she still has a voice, metallic though it may be.

"You need to calm down Miss Holt, we just need to run some test." One orders from behind the hazmat suit, clipboard in hand. The voice is masculine, but at the moment, unrecognizable.

"No, you don't understand! I need to leave, I just want to see my family, and then I need to leave before they find me! I need to  _Save_  them!" She tries to reason as her struggles increase. The three in the room ignore her in favor of their equipment, the voice from before, Iverson if her memory is correct, continues the questions, "Do you know how long you've been gone?"

"That's not important! What is, is me getting out of here and seeing my mother! I need to warn her!" She once again tries to reason, but is ignored in favor of the collar around her neck, and the prosthetic that replaces her left leg. "Sir, take a look at these."

Iverson looks back at her and Katie feels her skin crawl. "Put her under until we know what they truly are."

"NO! I just want to see my mother, I need to warn her! Please! You're making a mistake!" Her struggles increase as it takes two to hold her in place as the third approaches with sedatives in hand. She feels the gun press against her neck just above the collar, and the serum enters her bloodstream.

As a fog enters her mind, and clouds her vision, she can barely make out the sensation of the only comfort being removed.

* * *

When next she comes to, she's able to move. She feels something wrapping around her neck, and moves a hand to feel for the collar, only to feel it missing, and bandages covering her scar. Katie takes deep breath to fight the oncoming panic attack, and focuses on the room instead.

It's bare of all necessities save for a bed bolted to the ground, with only a pillow and sheets, as well as a toilet and sink set in the opposite corner. A window is set high up in the wall allowing light to filter through, but she can't look out. A mirror is set into the opposite wall, and with a quick test she determines that it's a one way mirror. If she were to guess, there are people on the other side studying her. Used to the feeling of eyes, seen and unseen, on her she lays back in the bed, and enjoys the feel of the long forgotten sun. Fingers tapping the bed listlessly, counting the seconds since her awakening to being able to see her captors.

* * *

Lance McClain was beyond curious about what he just witnessed, with his roommate Hunk and friends Shiro and Matt.

At the beginning, Lance had just wanted to go into town to escape the garrison for a bit, with Hunk and Shiro tagging along. Finding Matt surrounded by unfamiliar tech on a garrison wall, bulky headphones masking their approach.

Lance removes the left headphone and whispers, "You rocking out?"

Matt all but jumps out of his skin and flashes an innocent look at the three, "No, I just want to believe."

He then notices Hunk reaching out a tentative hand to touch the set-up. "Don't touch that!" Matt yells, slapping the large males hand away and covering the tech with his body. At the questioning look the three send his way, Matt inches away. "How else are they supposed to contact me."

Shiro thinking about what the older student is saying turns towards the sky and spots what could be a shooting star. Pointing it out to the other he asks. "Is that a meteor?" The rest turn as one towards where the youngest in the group is pointing and see a burning object in the sky. "A very, very big meteor?" Hunk asks with a slight tremor in his voice.

Shiro, the fourteen year old prodigy, makes a grab for the binoculars from around Matt's neck, but just misses them to the one who wears them. "No, it's a ship, and it's not one of ours."

"Wait so you're saying it's an alien ship?" Lance inquires as he takes the binoculars from the older male. Only to get the tail end of the crash. "Hey guys, look." Shiro observed and points to the lower garage as it opens to allow the Garrison jeeps out to move out towards the crash site.

The four head out in the direction with Hunk complaining about the trouble they'll be in if they're caught. The other three ignore him in favor of getting a good view of what's going on.

At first all they can see is the ship and Garrison personal moving around. Some going in and out of the quarantine setup in the center of it all. It takes hours, and just as they're about to leave, three people in hazmat suits leave the dome carrying a body between them, well two drag them, and the third carries a clipboard along with a heavy duty case. Matt lifts the binoculars to his face and zooms in on the group that just left quarantine. At the sight of the one being dragged, he drops the binoculars with a gasped, "No way, it can't be."

Lance grabs the binoculars, and doesn't bother removing them from around Shiro's neck, just managing to get a glimpse of the female. "Is that Katie Holt from the Kerberos Mission? I thought they all died?" Lance flinches at what he just said and turns to the younger Holt to see if they affected him, but only sees a determined glare

"Apparently not, What should we do about this?" Shiro inquires, more to himself than the others. Matt crosses his arms across his chest, if only to hide the tremor in them from his friends. "I don't know, but we should get back before we're found out."

The other three nod, and somehow manage to sneak back into the academy.

The next few nights are spent trying to figure out where they took Miss Holt. Shiro ends up finding her after using his size to his advantage and crawling through the vents, and getting into the restricted areas. Matt is frustrated, but can do nothing as of yet.

She is pacing the room she was placed in, Appearing listless, and agitated. Shiro pulls out the walkie-talkie they got for themselves and calls whoever has the other one. "Alpha to Omega, come in Omega, do you copy? over."

 _"Bzzt- This is handsome Omega, To Small Alpha. Over"_ Shiro is about to face palm at the obvious response of Lance. "It's just Alpha and Omega, and I got visual on Space Bound. Over."

 _"Seriously, That's great! Head back to base, and we'll discuss the best course of action."_  Lance says over the Walkie, and Shiro spares one final glance at Katie, before shimming back out of the vent. Glad to be able to deliver relatively good news to the worried Holt.

* * *

The days began to run into one another, multiple times the mirror would vanish to reveal a room on the other side, just like she predicted. On those days, the people would ask her question after question. Where was she? What was the collar around her neck for? Who did she have to warn her mother about? And so on. All of these she couldn't answer if she wanted to, but she ignored them anyway. Instead counting each session with the tapping of her fingers.

No one acknowledged her requests before, so why should she acknowledge their questions?

This time was different however, a crash was heard from the other side of the mirror, followed by the familiar opening of the door. When the other room was revealed it was to show four teens. Three of which appeared the same age, with one fiddling around with the hazmat suit they wear.

"Are you Katie Holt from the Kerberos mission?" The youngest, appearing to be fourteen asks. Katie merely nods her head. He goes to unlock the door, while the others try to get her to talk, only receiving nods, shakes, or shrugs. At some point the one in the suit had to leave, but is quick to return with a key-card.

The door opens, and Katie is quick to burst out of the opening, breathing a sigh of relief at the slightly bigger area. She ignores the teens and moves to the table, opening the briefcase, and pulling out the collar and placing it around her neck. "Thanks for the bust, but I'm not done here yet." Her voice is the metallic version of her usual tone. She points to the cadets. "I need one of you to go and commandeer a vehicle for a quick escape, one in the North garage will do, and another should go with him to sabotage the rest to avoid any unnecessary followers." The largest and the tall lean one volunteer to go.

"Now I need to go and get my stuff from storage, knowing the idiots here, they probably "forgot" to give it to my family after the mission, So I need to get it back before I leave." And with that she leaves the room, not bothering to wait for the two still in the room, ignoring their attempts to reach out to her. The skintight black under suit with scrap of a shirt is a dead giveaway in the brightly lit lab section, but in the darkened hallway past the lab the under suit makes for perfect cover, and the padding and clanking of feet is easily heard. To remedy this, she ducks into a supply closet, and pulls the two left with her along.

She removes the shirt and starts tearing it into strips, tying those around her feet, to create silent footfalls. The two seem to get the idea and the youngest removes their shoes, while the older one works on removing the suit. In the darkness of the closet she fails to get a good look at the two, but the whole escape scenario is beginning to become ever familiar to her, and instead sees a large armored figure looking out into the darkened hallway seeing if the coast is clear.

With the clothe on her feet, she doesn't make a sound. She leads the way to the female dorms, where her things are most likely stored. A static goes off halfway through, and She is quick to pull them into another closet.  _"Alpha, this is Omega, are you, and Space Bound close? We have the ride ready and are sabotaging the others, What's your ETA? Over."_

Katie realizes that it's only a walkie-talkie in the eldest's possession and grabs it from his belt. "I'm going out on a limb here in guessing that the two with me are Alpha, and I'm Space Bound? Over."

 _"That is correct Space Bound, and I'm the guy of your dreams."_ It sounds like the tall lean one is the one that speaks, and if the grunt is anything to go off of, the large one hit him. "Our ETA is 15-20 minutes at best Omega, and don't contact us again, we might get caught if you do, Over."

 _"Copy that Space Bound, Over."_  The large one answers back, the youngest checks the hallway once again, and the three begin moving. And just as they reach the junction between the gendered dorm areas the oldest grabs her wrist and pulls her towards the male hallway. Pulling her into a room and turning on the light within. Once her eyes adjust she comes face to face with her brother packing away her tech into a duffle bag.

Katie's throat tightens at the sight of him, and even with the voice module around her neck, finds herself unable to speak. Matt addresses their younger companion who is looking out into the hallway at the moment. "Come on Shiro, time to free a Pidgeon."

With her duffle over her shoulder, and the teens by her side they sneak their way to the north garage. She allows them to lead the way, and in the estimated time they make it to their destination.

The large male peeks out from behind one of the jeeps, and open the back. "Come on guys, we are going to be in so much trouble when they find us, so let's go before they do." Katie ignores him in favor of sitting in the back, and pulling out her laptop. "Uh miss Holt, didn't you hear me? We need to go."

She levels a glare at him, "What? And leave video graphic evidence of you aiding in my escape? I don't think so if you want to return, so just let me work for a bit. All you need to do is get the jeep started and the doors open for a quick escape." She explains as she makes quick work out of the firewalls of the Garrison security. Shiro is about to make a comment, but is stopped by Matt, "Don't bother the Pidgeon Shiro, you'll startle it."

She just manages to delete the last footage of their escape by the time alarms sound throughout the building and Iverson's voice sounds out over the intercom with the same message as the other night.  _"Attention all students. This is not a drill. We are on Lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat all students are to remain in barracks until further notice."_

"We're good to go." Katie says as she closes the back entrance and the lean one brings them out into the open. Katie watches the high walls go over them and can't help but smile at the sensation of freedom finally washing over her after so long.

As they go on, no road ahead of them, Katie leans over the back, "So you all obviously know my name, and I recognize my brother, and he knows you, isn't it fair that I get to know the rest of you?"

"Oh right, I'm Lance the handsome one." The driver says, as she studies his oversized hoodie, with a white shirt with blue sleeves and Jeans. "Oh, so you're the flirty one?" Katie points out. and the others laugh. "I'm Shiro, and the oversized teddy-bear is Hunk." the youngest says, Shiro is dressed in a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up with red and grey shirt underneath. With black jeans and boots to complete the outfit.

Hunk on the other hand is wearing a yellow shirt with green vest and brown cargo pants. Attached to his belt are bags for something small. Katie smiles, finally learning the names of her saviors. "Well I thank you for saving me, but what's your plan now?" she asks leaning over her brother's shoulder to assure herself that he and everything else is real.

"I don't know, I just feel as though we're supposed to go this way." Lance explains going at a steady speed off road. "Fair enough, now I'm going to quick change so none of you look got it?" and before she gets a reply she ducks down behind the seats. She sheds the clothe on her feet, as well as the suit, before rummaging through her pack for her comfort clothes.

She puts underwear on first, seeing how she wasn't really wearing any at this point, then goes a pale grey long sleeved. Afterwards she slips on a pair of black leggings with tears in the knees, she ends up cutting off the left leg, finding it weird and worrisome not being able to see the prosthetic. Just as she's about to slip on her shoes the vehicle jerks, and she is tossed right into the seats. "What's going on up there?" She demands, and sees Lance leaving the jeep. The others are stunned, but Katie finishes slipping on her shoes, and grabs her hooded vest and duffle before going over the middle seat and crawling through Shiro's open window, going after the driver gone AWOL.

She registers the others following behind her, but her attention is on Lance. "Are you OK kid?" She calmly asks. And Lance looks down at the hidden cavern he brought them to. "Yeah, but I think we should go down there." and without waiting for a reply slips down the slope to reach the cavern.

"Let's get this over with." she breaths as she and the rest slide down after the tanned teen. The cavern they enter is covered in markings, all in one shape or another, a lion. A memory seems to trickle into the back of her mind along with a headache. She fights it back, and studies the markings, briefly hearing someone mention them out loud. A few moments later they all start to glow a brilliant blue.

Jumping back from the walls, she looks back and finds, Lance with his hand raised as though burned, but that is all she gets as the cavern floor crumbles away beneath them. She hears herself scream as they all go down a slope leading to a small underwater spring.

"Who told you to touch that?" Katie demands as she glares at Lance. But he is not looking at her, none of them are. Instead they look at something that is towering above her if their glances mean anything. She slowly turns and finds what has their attention. At the sight of the large Blue Lion with spherical shield her headache gets worse, but she ignores it in favor of following the others to investigate.

"Does anyone else feel like the thing's eyes are following them? Cause I swear they are following me." Lance says as he moves side to side. Katie studies the lion, but nothing gives away if the Lion's gaze shifts.

Matt makes it to the lion first, and the shield stops him from getting any closer. "How do you suppose we get in? Knock" He inquires as Lance comes up beside him. "Let's find out." he answers as he lightly raps his knuckles against the shielding.

The shield goes out in a burst, and an image goes through all their minds. One of five Mechanical Lions much like the one in front of them, flying together, and forming a large humanoid robot.

When the flashes of thoughts end, Hunk is on the ground, and freaking out. "Voltron's a robot! Voltron's a huge, huge awesome robot!"

"We need to get them out of here." she says, brown eyes wide in absolute terror.

"What do you mean?" Shiro inquires catching her fear. Her eyes are dilated and glancing around uncontrollably. Her breath comes in short pants, and it doesn't seem as though she's getting enough oxygen. "Katie you need to sit down, and slow your breaths."

Matt hears the advice and turns to see his sister all but hyperventilating. He dashes over and pulls Katie down with him and has her lean against his back, surprised to feel ribs when he places a hand on her chest. "Katie, I need you to breath with me, please Katie, I need you to focus on me not on anyone else. Breath in for four, hold for four, out for four." And he repeats the instructions over and over to get his words through the fog no doubt clouding her mind.

Katie does as requested and breaths in through her nose for four, holds for four, and out through her mouth for four. Over and over until she calms down. A hand rest on her shoulders and she looks up to see the Lion's head has lowered, and mouth opened to allow them in. "Miss Holt, what happened?" Hunk questions as the grip on her shoulder grounds her.

"I'll explain later, but for now we have to get the Lion out of here. Lance, lead the way." And with that she follows Lance into the lion, the other close behind her. Lance sits in the pilots chair, the controls lighting up when his hands rest on the console. Everyone piles in, and the Lion begins moving. The whole thing shakes as it burst free of the cavern, and pounces, and flies as through stretching its legs. "Lance, we don't have time for you to be playing around." Katie grunts holding on for dear life

"I'm not doing it!" he defends, and judging by how his hands barely move, his not.

"Well, figure it out. They'll come for it, that I'm sure of." Katie states looking out the window towards the sky.

"Ok, what do you mean, they? Who are you talking about? Does it have something to do with the ship you came in?" Hunk jabbers senselessly. Katie holds up a hand. "OK first off, its an escape pod, not a ship. Secondly they are nothing like this world has ever seen and they are after Voltron. Now I'll explain the rest later, for now we need to get to safety."

The lion seems to understand her need, and takes off towards the sky. Katie clutches the strap of her backpack tighter, glad she did that one last thing before leaving Earth Once again.

* * *

Colleen receives a notice for an E-Mail on her phone. She opens the inbox and tears flow uncontrollable at the familiar E-Mail address with the short message, with a picture

_"I'll be home soon."_

The image included is one taken from the laptop camera, and shows her daughter sitting in the back of a jeep with her brother and his friends seated properly, seeming to be deep in conversation, unaware of the image being captured.


	3. Flock

The glory of space, what once mystified the oldest Holt, now terrifies her. In the distance, fast approaching Earth can only be the ship she just escaped from. "Lance, we need to lose that ship!" She orders as she shakes the seat to reiterate her point.

"Are those the ones you warned us about?" Shiro inquires, looking at the large vessel.

"Yeah." She says breathlessly, remembering the first time she was taken onboard. "What are they called?" Matt is the one to state the question this time, and the hand on her shoulder grounds her against the presence of a past best forgotten. "I don't have time to recall know what their species is, but they're monsters. If they get their hands on this lion, they will kill everyone."

"Ok, so what do you suggest?" Hunk worries, and all eyes are on her. Katie shakes her head, "I don't know, I was just winging it up until this point, and I don't remember how I escaped them the first time." She admits, looking down in regret, having gotten these teens into this mess, and all but lying to her mother once again.

"For now, I'm just gonna floor it." Lance says as he simultaneously pushes forwards on the levers in hand, pushing the buttons in the side with his thumb, activating the thrusters. The Galra ship keeps pace, and in five seconds they reach the place where it all started. To think it took them months to get here last time.

Not even a second after they pass the moon of Pluto does a swirling blue portal open up in front of them. "Katie what should we do? The lion seems to want to go through." Lance admits, and all eyes turn towards her. Katie controls her breathing, and looks dead ahead at the portal, "Anything is better than being taken captive, and I'd rather not lead them back to Earth."

"You heard the lady Lance," Shiro simple says, and looks Lance in the eye. "Bring us straight through, and we'll see what happens." Lance smirks, and plows straight through. "Guess we're ditching class tomorrow."

Inside the portal is a sensation of being pulled and squished at the same time. The screams of those around her are muffled in her ears, and just as she thinks it's going to get worse, they breach the other end, coming out to see a world much like that of their home, only completely different landmasses make up the surface. A moment passes before Hunk is throwing up off to the side.

Katie takes in the sight before her, and without looking at Lance asks, "Is the lion telling you anything else, like where we are?" as they glide down to the surface. "No, it's completely silent, wait I think I hear something." They all tune in at that, picking up on a high pitched squeal, than the smell hits. Katie covers her nose and mouth trying not to gag. "Seriously Lance! Try not to suffocate my sister, I only just got her back" Matt glowers as Lance finished releasing wind. "Yeah, but seriously there's a castle up ahead."

Lance brings the lion done to the main entryway, and Katie stalls. "Guys I need you all to be careful, I lost my crew once because of aliens, and I don't want to lose anyone else."

* * *

Of all things to open a door with, it just had to be a loud roar from a giant, mechanical, blue lion. Still getting over the initial shock of the whole thing, they cautiously make their way through the halls, getting caught in an identity scan, and wondering aimlessly through the warmly lit halls of white and blue. Down and down they go. Stair case after hallway, and repeat. They all lose track of how long they have been at it, but they finally come to what appears to be control room.

Katie approaches the console in the center of the room, while the others spread out to study the rest. It lights up, and two pods come out of the ground. The first one to open reveals a female with dark skin much like Lance's with contrasting silvery locks. The sky blue, and white dress as well as the crown on her forehead depict her as royalty. The only thing that sets her off from a normal human are the pink pupils set in piercing blue eyes, and the elf like ears.

"Father." The female gasps, as she falls out of the pod. Lance is there to catch her, and Katie knows from recent experience he's going to flirt. The elf like female picks herself up from the Cuban's arms, and looks around at the humans. "Who are you? Where am I?"

And Lance does his customary smirk, "The names Lance, and you're right here in my arms." Katie face palms, she totally called it. She removes her hand at a gasp of pain, and sees the female holding one of Lance's ears, and dragging an arm behind his back. "Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?" She all but demands

Katie folds her arms and watches, feeling as though Lance deserved this as he explains. "A giant blue lion brought us here. That's all we know." The female releases Lance and looks at all of them. "How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its Paladin?" She stands straight, in a less defensive pose, and Katie lets herself relax a bit. The large body of Hunk is trying to appear small behind Katie. "What are you all doing here? Unless... How long has it been?"

Katie shakes Hunk's hands from his shoulders. "I'm sorry, but I don't even know what year is it, and shouldn't you be giving us a name before you go and demand things." She seems defensive at the other female asking her questions. "I am Princess Allura of Altea, and I must see how much time has passed." She pushes past everyone to reach the console, having it light up with just a touch of her hand. "Yeah you do that," Katie mumbles as she watches the console light up with interest.

Katie hears the crash behind her and looks to see the one from the other pod. The male is ginger and a mustache adorns his face, a bit of hair hangs down on his forehead. Katie levels a dead stare as Lance and other Altean demonstrate their "Fighting" prowess. Katie stomps over to the two and grabs Lance by the ear, much like Allura did before. "That's enough of that." and drags him over to where she was standing before.

Allura lets out a gasp and looks up. "I don't believe it. We've been asleep for 10,000 years." Katie understands where the princess is coming from to a certain degree, and gets lost in her own memories of waking up back on Earth. She is so lost in her thoughts, but is able to pick up on one word. "Zarkon."

Katie takes an involuntary step back at the name, and gasps out the name. Allura seems to take this as her asking who the monster is. "He was the king of the Galra. A vile creature and enemy to all free people."

"I know who he is. My team and I were prisoners of his."

Allura takes this information in disbelief. "He's still alive? Impossible!"

"Not as impossible as you think, and after the image I saw from the lion outside, I think he wants the whole set if you know what I mean?" Katie says as a sense of dread settling into her gut.

"He would be looking for the lions. After all, Voltron is the only thing that can defeat him, and he knows it well." Allura says with fire in her eyes, "And that's why we're going to find it before him."

* * *

After Allura checks over the systems and secured some mice found in her pods, they move to the upper bridge. She summons a plethora of holographic stars, and planets. Katie looks closely at one area in particular where two lions appear. Matt is the one to point it out however "It looks like the Black Lion is at the same location as the Blue Lion." Coran leans in too close to him for Katie to be comfortable with. "Ah look at your little synapses firing away in your little brain cage." He says all to happily, even as Katie pulls her brother away

"If you don't want to get hurt, move away." She threatens, not liking the close proximity, Coran moves away, and goes towards Lance.

"As Mr. Holt has pointed out, The black Lion is hidden away in the Castle of Lions." Allura says, paying no mind to the threat directed towards Coran.

"King Alfor thought it would be best if the Black Lion remained to keep out of Zarkon's hands. It can only be freed when the other four lions are present." Coran explains arms folded.

"As you may have figured out, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond that can't be forced, due to the quintessence that is mirrored in both the lion and paladin." Allura says and with a wave of her hand the stars move and the black lion comes to rest in front of Katie. "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Katie-"

"I'm sorry, but that's not me." Katie interrupts before Allura can continue.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not a leader, I've been following other's orders for as long as I can remember, and if it ever came to it, I don't think I'd be able to lead in a serious battle." she explains to the princess, head bowed low, "I'm sorry, but that's just not me."

Matt interrupts just as Allura is going to say something. "What are you saying Katie, you are totally leader material. You were always incharge of projects, and pranks. Not to mention keeping me in line when I would get carried away with things.

Katie gives a small smile at the reassuring words "I'll have to try my best then huh?" Everyone looks on at the scene with fondness, happy that Matt was able to reassure his sister.

Allura smiles as well and moves the stars again to another location in the galaxy. "The green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Matt, you will pilot the Green Lion." Katie smiles at the description of the lion's personality and studies the smaller lion before Allura moves on. Knowing that the description would have worked for either of them, but glad that it ended up being Matt. Shuddering at the thought of him in charge.

"The Blue Lion-" Allura begins only to be interrupted by Lance. "Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" And Katie doesn't even think about it as she hits him upside the head, while the stars move towards the next Lion.

"The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is the one who puts the needs of other above his own." The lion stops in front of Hunk. "His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together." Hunk points at himself questioning it silently, but doesn't protest.

Allura cups her hands together and the Red Lion forms between them. "The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable." She lifts her arms and the lion floats away from her, stopping in front of Shiro. "Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instinct than skill alone. Shiro, you will fly the Red Lion."

"What?" Lance grips, pointing a thumb at the one beside him, as they gave a smirk. "This guy?" and Shiro jabs Lances knees.

After explaining that something could be wrong with the castle, keeping her from finding it's location. They split off into three groups. Lance is taking the Blue Lion with Hunk to retrieve the Yellow Lion, while Matt and Pidge take a small shuttle to retrieve the Green Lion. Shiro stays behind with Allura, and Coran to try and locate the Red Lion, and after Coran leaves them with the thought of being stuck, and living out their lives on some far off planet, they are sucked in.

* * *

Katie was not amused. The coordinates takes the two to a jungle like planet, and the area where the prosthetic connected to flesh was starting to get raw. She pushes through the foliage around them, and looks at the hand-held device that tracks the signature of the lion in a smaller scale than what Allura did.

Upon breaking through the trees and coming to a river, they spot a canoe with a lion head carved front. Katie goes to investigate it, and when she turns to see if her brother is following, she is shocked to find another creature.

The creature closely resembles a sloth, and after it makes a weird questioning sound in the back of its' throat, Katie drags Matt close and hides him behind her. The sloth thing doesn't seem bothered by this reaction, and simple moves towards the canoe and gestures for them to follow.

"OK, I guess it wants us to follow it into the canoe." Katie observes, Matt breaks free of her arms. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he inquires.

"What would you suggest than?"

Shiro opens his mouth to say his idea only to close it and shrug. "I don't know, I guess we could see what happens."

Once situated and on their way down the river, Katie's thoughts run rampant. Matt seems to catch on and questions it. "I'm sorry, but I was just thinking that we made a mistake, like what Allura was wrong and I'm supposed to pilot the Black Lion, and it's some other lion that welcomes me? What if I freak out in the middle of a battle and cause the rest of you to get hurt? What if I'm not actually supposed to be here and someone else is waiting for their destiny?"

"Katie, Katie, KATIE!" At the shout the older female looks back. "You're rambling, and I truthfully think that the princess made the right call. You may seem more curious about everything, but that's just because you want to look out for others, and sure you like your technology, but you like bossing me around more."

Katie smiles at the words, glad that someone understands where she stands. That smile shifts into a look of awe, as the canoe approaches a temple covered in vines.

"What are you waiting for. Be great." Katie supplies her own words of wisdom and gestures for her brother to move forwards and smiles from a now more relaxed position.

"You're smarter than you look, you know that?" Matt jokes

"But of course. I was raised by the best." Katie once again smiles and watches as Matt takes off

Katie leans up against the large vines behind her and settles in to wait, when a large burst of wind nearly blows him off his feet a few minutes later. Looking up she lets a confidant smirk overtake her face at the sight of the Green Lion which is slightly smaller than the Blue Lion.

* * *

Lance and Hunk join them back at the Castle of Lions with both the Blue and Yellow Lions. and that is when Katie hears the worst news she ever could. She can barely focus on anything, but the fact that the Galra ship is here already. The memories that came back to her already are going through her head, but it's stuff that she's already seen. Allura left at some point when Coran brought up her father, leaving the Paladins alone.

Lance bringing up that they should leave again snaps her out of it, and she argues back. "We're staying."

"What do you want us to do? We only have four lions, one of which isn't even accessible, and without all of them we can't form Voltron." Lance argues back, and Katie steps closer. "You think I don't know that? Because I do. I know that we can't form Voltron, but guess what? The last Lion we need is on that ship, and I highly doubt that we'll get another chance like this."

"Yeah, but if any of us die, than what?"

"You want to talk about dying? Fine. I all but died once because of those monsters. I'm not the same helpless little girl I was before the Kerberos Mission, and I try not to let the few memories I have sway my every action. The only things that I'm sure of is that I have a leg made of their tech and I don't even have a voice unless I have this thing strapped to my throat. So don't you even start with that." Katie is right in Lance's face and glaring at this point, and that is how Allura and Coran find them when the two Alteans return.

Allura is now dressed in what can only be the typical armor of the Alteans; with tight fitting black under suit, and white over armor with pink blue and black. Her silver locks are all pulled up and into a bun, and a look of determination adorns her face.

She leads them to a lower chamber where they are given the armor of the Paladin as well as their weapon the bayard. "I'm sorry Shiro, but the bayard of the Black Lion has been missing for some time."

Katie places her hand on the youth's shoulder at the resigned look he sports. "It's ok Shiro, I'll make you what ever kind of weapon you want."

At the nod, they go about the plan discussed. Katie takes Shiro, and her brother to the Galra ship aboard the green lion while Lance and Hunk act as distractions with the intent of destroying the ion canon at the hull of the ship. Once onboard the layout becomes familiar, and she turns to go the opposite way than Shiro and Matt.

"Katie, where are you going? We need to find the Red Lion."

"I recognize this as the ship we were brought to, I need to get to where the prisoners, and find them."

Shiro nods, "What if no one's there"

"I promise to come back with something." And with that one word she takes off, Matt tagging along with her and Shiro going the other way. She goes along the path she remembered, and manages to convert a Galra drone to their side. Using the drone she unlocks the door and rushes in surprising the prisoners.

"Dad! Keith!" She looks around at the startled faces, and deflates at finding neither of her team. Matt places a hand on her shoulder in form of comfort "Come on, let's get you folks out of here." he says and gestures over his shoulder.

A thin alien with four arms and antenna looks at her in awe. "It's you, the Amazon. If anyone can get us out of here, she can."

"I'm sorry, but what did you call me?" She asks, perking up at the title but none of them answer, helping each other to stand, getting ready to escape.

* * *

They see the escape pod leave the ship and head towards Arus, but the Green Lion lingers at the bottom. They distract the air drones a bit longer until Shiro is ejected them out into space. All four collectively release a sigh of relief when the Red Lion saves him, and the green lion with the Holts joins them.

"Katie, you doing OK?" Hunk asks over the comm in the helmets. "Yeah I'm fine, I just hope those prisoners will be OK." The rest of the group senses an underlining to it, but leave it be in favor of racing off to the Castle of Lions and getting the Black Lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This new flock consists of the Paladins, the Alteans, And the Lions
> 
> *NOTICE* I will be excepting fan art for this story as well as my other ones. If you do create something for any of my stories, please leave a link in the comments so that I may see them, and give you credit. As well as leave a link in the comment


	4. Maiden Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Matt are lil' shits

The Black lion is free and Katie's flock is nearing completion, the only obstacle in her way is the predator approaching. All five lions are out and the particle barrier is up. She leads everyone out into battle, where Galra drones soar around the castle and fire at the barrier, aiming to bring it down.

The ships flying through the air begin to stress Katie out. It's the same way she felt in the Galran Escape pod, as well as having the Garrison Science division looming over her like a bunch of seventh grades interested in the bowels of a frog. She halts her lions leaping to exclaim "This is insane! can't they cease fire for one minute to let us figure things out?" She shouts and when one ship gets to close she clamps the jaws of her lion on it's wing and flings it away. "Is that too much to ask?"

Hunk does his own take on how to form Voltron and pilots the Yellow Lion into the Red Lion yelling out "Combine!"

That plan ultimately fails as Shiro's lion is thrown to the side. Shiro sees the problem and makes a suggestion. "Better luck next time, and maybe don't drive me into the ground."

Katie could agree with that, but needs to think of plan at this point would be good at this point. "Let's fly in formation, and see if that does anything for now."

The others follow close behind her. All five of them try to force the lions to combine, and it's Lance that first points out the feeling of moving towards something. dread causes her throat to close and terror begins to overwhelm her. She can do nothing to block out the screams of the teens around her, her own whimpers distorted by the small nerve reading radio strapped around her neck. The screams of three others shift to the two she lost. With that thought in mind her resolve is finalized

"If we give up now, that would put the whole universe in danger, and I'm not about to allow anyone to go through the horrors that many are still going through, we can't give up." At the short triad spoken by the Black Paladin, all thoughts turned to Earth. To families there and waiting for their children or siblings, the safety a mother's hug could provide, and the feeling of walking into a home. The Email that Pidge had sent to her mother and the promise that went with it.

With everyone's thoughts centered around the same thing a different force takes hold of the lions, and Katie allows it to happen, instinctively knowing that it can only mean something good this time around. The forms of the lions' shift. so that the limbs of the four smaller ones disappear within their bodies. The Blue and Yellow Lions upper bodies went flat, as a way to form feet, and connected to the hind legs of the Black Lion. The same things happens with the Green and Red Lions, only they connected to the front limbs, and their lions remain straight.

The Galran Fleet stops firing and that allows the humans a chance to truly take it what just happened. Katie is the first to crow out "We formed Voltron!"

Followed by a few whops a hollers from the others before Hunk points out "I'm a leg!"

That one comment caused the rest of the fear to leave Katie's frame, and together as one, the five fight as one. Voltron drove their left arm into the hull of the ship and a buzzing thought entered Matt's mind telling them which button would activate a laser. He crowed in excitement and glee as the ship was destroyed and other Galra escape pods were ejected. The only thing that would make this better is if the rest of the Holts were here.

When the last of the fleet was destroyed and the Paladins landed each of their lions on the bridge where Blue first dropped them. Allura and Coran meet them there and both are quick to congratulate the humans. Katie let the conversation wash over her and just soaked in the fact that she was about to get back at the ones who separated her from the rest of her family. She got back at the Garrison by sneaking out with the cadets that knew who she was and decided to listen. She got back at the Galra with the same group that helped her before. With their help she's sure she can reunite her family once again.

That thought is placed on the back burner in favor of flopping to the ground after hearing Coran point out. "Oh yes you'll have to form Voltron multiple times, and not just against one ship. Imagine a whole fleet of them!"

She groans from her spot on the ground, and Coran points out "It's not going to be easy being the defenders of the universe."

Katie lifts her head at that and stares at Coran along with the rest of their group. Slowly setting her head down a smile graces her face. A comment from Shiro shows that he feels the same. They could do this.

* * *

Katie can't do anything with the lack of sleep she is receiving.

Princess Allura showed each of them to the rooms used by the first Paladins and here she is, laying in bed wide awake. Now that the adrenaline has faded, she now realizes that she is on another planet in a castle with an alien princess and her advisor, along with some alien mice, and four teens from Earth, one of which is his younger brother, that all but got dragged into this. She can't take the silence of the bed room anymore and decides to explore. After all the last time she was on a with a structure this big she was held prisoner, and she barely remembers anything from then, only getting bits and pieces every now and then, so with laptop in her bag, and what little motivation she has, she uses her freedom to open the door.

She cringes at the groan it releases, and Katie knows she'll need to invest in some kind of alien oil to keep it from happening again if this is going to be a regular thing for her to do. She creeps down the hall, the reprogramed Galra drone flying lazily behind her. She spend the walk memorizing the path to what appears to be the kitchen, dinning room, and a small training room. She continues walking until she finds the room where the healing pods are located, and sits in front of the one that holds the first alien to hold some kind of recognition of her.

And with her laptop in hand begins working on a random program.

* * *

Shiro woke up to the groan of the door, and peaks out of his own to see Katie leaving her room fully dressed in the armor worn by the Paladins of old. He doesn't know why but he follows her example and makes to follow her once it's on, he can't find her right away, seeing how he had trouble finding all of the pieces of armor, but when he does manage to locate her it's in front of the healing pods doing one handed pushups while typing away at her laptop with her free arm.

He sees a slight tremor go down her back and she rolls over to see him standing in the entryway. She falls back and lifts an arm to signal him over. He does approach albeit a bit cautiously.

"So, I'm guessing you can't sleep either?" He asks and she shrugs to the best of her ability.

"Had trouble getting sleep growing up, and the past year just made that worse apparently, but at least I have my laptop now." She says as she rolls back to the push up position but holds it to plank. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Why are you up and about?" She asks picking up one arm to shortly type something before resting it back down and she sinks to her elbows. "I have problems with sudden change, and moving about." he half answers, the other half is that he is concerned.

"Ok, so you a foster kid than?"

And there it is the hammer in the proverbial nail. "Yeah, but I recently got adopted a few months ago, so yeah."

"OK." Silence passes between the two with a few clicks of the keyboard to break it up. Shiro leans against the steps and closes his eyes for a moment when Katie speaks up. "Hey Shiro, I know this may sound weird, but could you just get on my back for awhile so that I have a little extra resistance?"

Shiro being to tired does as requested and lays on his stomach as Katie switches to actual pushups. The up and down motion is soothing and the words she mumbles under her breath acts as white noise that lulls him back to the land of dreams.

in his final moments of consciousness, he can't help but wonder if Matt was telling the truth about Katie's temper?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> started doing little hints here and there, but the big idea won't be revealed until next time.
> 
> Title chosen for this chapter on with the fact that it was their first time fighting as Voltron.
> 
> So with that Blue out.


	5. Bird of Prey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All hail the angst of Voltron fanfics
> 
> So without further ado, Let the chaos ensue.

Shiro's wake up call usually consisted of a bull terrier jumping on his bed, or a shout from the doorway/bottom of the stairs, but never has he been awoken by being launched bodily off his bed, as well as a siren and loud voice. He hears the sound of someone scrambling and the events from the day before comes back to him in bits and pieces, and he barely registers Katie running out the door with the Galran droid drifting behind her.

The words that are spoken over the speaker finally register in his head as those of the alien Princess, Allura. "Paladins! Zarkon is attacking! We need Voltron now!" Shiro grabs both his and Katie's helmets before going after her. he meets Hunk and Keith along the way, but no Lance in sight. When they are about to enter the command center of the castle, Allura's commanding voice changes to the over dramatic one of Coran.

"Oh no! Allura's dead! Her head fell off!" Katie is already in the room, and looks about ready to fight something. Most likely the two aliens in front of her. Her hands clenching and unclenching at her side.

"Coran."

"Wait, I think she's trying to speak to me. What is it Allura's severed head?"

"Coran, it's over." he goes on with the act until he turns around. The sight of the four present snaps him out of it. Two of them in their armor, Hunk was still in his pajamas, and Matt, struggling to put on a shirt. Lance still failing to make an entrance. Shiro barely registers the words that are mixed up forma of measurement.

Allura looks about ready to bite everyone's heads off, but Katie beats her to the punch. "2 Hours. I got TWO, Goddamn Hours of sleep. I haven't had any coffee yet, and there probably is none up here. So this had better be good, or I swear to whatever fucking deity you choose to worship, that this will not be a good day."

The princess seems genuinely stunned by the words and that is when Lance enters. Dressed in blue robes with matching bottoms and Lion slippers. A drink in hand and face shining. "Good morning everybody." Lance says with a smirk that only causes Katie's glare to harden and eye to twitch. Katie raises her arms in an I give up gesture. "Oh, but of course. Good Morning Lance, glad you were able to sleep in while the rest of us got our asses chewed out for showing up." She than turns towards Princess Allura, "Now, what is your first royal decree for us weary travelers." She finishes with an exaggerated bow. Shiro can see Matt biting his lip before gesturing to his sister in a  _'see what I mean'_  manner.

"If you would allow me to explain, For the last ten thousand years the castle has been picking up distress beacons from these locations." the same holographic star chart that showed the lion locations pops up, this time many spots are growing a menacing red. With the flick of her wrist she switches the view to another set of planets. "Here is Earth, seeing this, an attack on your planet is inevitable."

Hunks gives a note of worry, and Allura sends everyone off to their lions so that they can work on forming Voltron, while the two Alteans work on getting the castle's systems back online.

The first exercise is flying in formation and hoping something happens, after that comes a cheerleader pyramid out of the lions. Katie remembers the cheerleaders back in high school, And how Matt tried to get her to join just to have them come over to their house. He probably still has the picture of her at tryouts on his phone.

When this fails and they're all resting Allura contacts them from the castle. "Paladins, I think I may have a solution to your dilemma."

"What do you have in store for us now?" Katie asks, not quite liking the princess's enthusiasm.

"Well, the last time you formed Voltron, you were under attack. We also need to test the defenses of the castle, so this will help us on both sides." And before the words fully process the particle barrier activates and laser fire rains down on them. It ends when the barrier drops and they sneak past the laser fire still going.

Katie goes to hunt down the Princess and advisor, while the rest relax in the common area sitting in the sunken in couches. A few minutes pass when the voices of Allura and Coran become known as a doorway opens. "Are we at full power on condenser 5 yet?"

"No, still just at 84%"

Allura sighs and spots the Paladins relaxing thinking only of results she exclaims "You did it, You formed Voltron."

"Not quite, you see the lasers stopped, so we did to." Matt exclaims when reclining further into the couch. Allura bristled at the statement as he advisor explains why this happened, and before she could say anything the leader walked in on the other side.

"Oh there you are Allura, I was just going to let you know what happened." Allura pushes her point of the need to keep training and what Hunk says next gets to Katie. "We've been training, When are we going back to Earth."

Katie sits up at those words. "I'm not returning home until I'm sure the universe is safe, or my team, so I'm staying."

A bit more of arguing happens before they find themselves in a training deck. The room is about the size of an indoor soccer field with control room overhead. Making use of a microphone Coran calls down to the five.

"Ok, listen up, guys. The paladin code demands you put your team members' safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack. It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team." When the older altean finishes his brief explanation shields form from the wrist guards of their suits.

Katie gets into a low stance as small circular drones begin to circle around them. She doesn't hear Hunk's question as the room fades away and is replaced by an arena. The droids spherical shape morphs to the pyramid use for those of the Galra.

_I recognize this as a warm up before the true fight. The Empire started to do this as a way to give their own fighters a chance when faced against me. I'm soon surrounded by the droids, and the first shot comes from behind, aiming for the spot between my shoulder blades._

_After the first shot there is an unfamiliar grunt, but there shouldn't be any of those unless they come from me, after all, I'm alone._

_After awhile their circular movement picks up pace and they move about shin level, not once do I feel the need to protect my back after that last shot, but that won't last long. Two more alarmed shouts shortly followed by a third, and that is when I know I'm not safe, but shouldn't I have felt this way before?_

_I feel multiple eyes on me from above, watching, waiting, for what? Anyone's guess is as good as my at this point._

_The droids move again, but cease firing. I remain alert, waiting for something else. My throat feels dry and I can't focus on anything but the sting of my leg. A voice comes on overhead, telling me about an invisible maze. 'That's new, I don't very much like new.'_

_The voice that leads me through sounds masculine and young, much younger than most fighters, and that's worrisome._

_At one point I must have gotten too close to the wall, because the next thing I know is I get shocked, and the pain goes straight to the metal in my leg as well as my neck, shorting out the voice device. Everything comes back and the arena changes to the training room on the altean ship_

Shiro leans forwards on the console as Katie looks to be shouting out in pain, but no words come out of her mouth. "Katie, you OK down there?"

He sees a nod and a shaky thumbs up. He sees her remove the collar she is always wearing and loop it around her belt. Shiro leads her through the rest of the maze where she promptly collapses, kneading the area where her prosthetic connects to flesh.

When the others go Katie is allowed time to fix the tech that allows her to talk as well as check out her leg, which feels slightly hot at this point. She kept her helmet on as she worked to understand what was going on.

Her leg is the first thing to be checked, she won't be any help if she can't get around without being in pain. She finds the area that connects the leg to her body, and hooks it up to her laptop to better get a reading. While that is being done, she takes the voice box, and opens it to find some of the wiring fried. She needs to find replacement wiring and ends up hopping around to find some, and that is how Coran finds her. Moving around the castle with a neglected burn on her neck, and leg completely gone.

"Well than, if you are able we were going to start the next exercise, and it won't require your leg if you would like to join." He says and after a moment of deliberation she nods and uses the wall to help her move towards the training deck.

Upon arrival she finds the rest sitting on the floor with strange headsets on. "Hey Kat-" Lance begins but tapers off at the sight of the missing limb. Katie ignores him and sits between Shiro and Hunk. It's difficult without the assistance of her left leg but she manages it. A matching headset is handed to her and as she puts it on Coran's voice once again explains the exercise. Apparently this will allow the others to look in the others' mind.

They begin by thinking of whatever comes to mind.

She tries to keep her thoughts straight, wanting to hold off on the others learning of the horrors she faced. Instead she focuses her attention on the memories of her new team

Everyone sees Lance's family in a portrait like format, with the teen surround by parents, grandparents, and siblings.

For Hunk it's a home cooked meal, from all the foods that everyone is familiar with as well as some only he would be familiar with.

Shiro thinks about a few of his homes, but ends up thinking of the Garrison, starting from the flight that started it all. In the scene Keith is introducing him to a naive Kaite, not yet aware of the horrors of space. Changing to a TV screen in the Garrison lounge displaying the failed Kerberos mission, and missing crew. blatantly placing all blame on her by saying it was due to technology failure.

Matt's thoughts are of their mom crying at the table holding the last photo taken of the three other members of her family, the two older Holt's are in their Garrison uniforms with their father in the middle and her and Matt on either side. Both siblings end up doing peace signs at the camera while their father tries to keep it together. Her hair was shorter than, cut down to her shoulders to make maintenance easier in space. Thinking about it now, her hair is probably reaching a little past her shoulders.

the picture falls out of Colleen's hand and Katie throws off the head gear, gazing at Shiro and Matt with regret. They all look at her in shock of her reaction, all but Matt and Shiro, who look as though they are trying to hide some form of remorse. She can't deal with this now, so with major difficulty and disregard for Allura and Coran she hops out of there, switching to a three limbed crawl when the weight of knowledge becomes too much, and weighs heavily on her shoulders. After all, it's not everyday you find out you were blamed for two deaths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Titled the chapter the way I did because let's face it, Pidge was practically a bird of prey in this. As for why she acted this way is the PTSD she suffers. I didn't want her to act exactly like Shiro, and I wanted her to have some divergence from her own character.
> 
> Here are the symptoms I'm giving Katie
> 
> Nightmares/insomnia
> 
> Stress
> 
> Irritability
> 
> Hypervigilance
> 
> Intrusive Memories
> 
> Guilt


	6. Nest Mates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who don't know, I took the liberty of rewriting the early chapters to fit someone's head canon on Tumblr. Keith is now a prisoner, Matt is the green paladin, shiro is red and Katie is the black paladin and babysitter.
> 
> So without further ado, Let the chaos ensue

"That could've go better." Shiro admits to himself while watching Matt run after his sister. For someone missing a leg, she can certainly move fast. When Matt catches up to her, she's in Green's hanger with the metallic voice. bits of static cutting through the silence. She seems to be talking herself into doing something, and as he gets closer he sees the prosthetic back in place with a socket wrench to the side. As he gets closer he can make out the mumbles.

"Come on, you can do this Katie, it's just one twist and than a few more. You've been through this before." She falters at the last minute with her grip tightening on the wrench. Losing her nerve, she throws the wrench behind her and falls back in exasperation. Matt picks up the wrench and moves to stand over her.

"If your here to end me, can you not use my wrench." She says barely even sparing her brother a glance. Matt ignores her and kneels by her leg. "What were you trying to do before?"

Katie studies him for a moment, glaring in the hope of scaring the teen away. Seeing how he refuses to buckle under the glare she relents. "I was trying to reattach my leg, it's just, connecting the nerves is painful. like getting your arm put back into its socket after dislocating it painful. So if you will just hand me the wrench so that I may get back to that."

She tries to take the tool away, but Matt pulls away at the last second, standing to dangle the wrench out of reach. Katie just falls to her side, and Matt looks down at her and sees how her leg is pulled along limply, not at all how it's been in the time that he's been in her presence. He sits back down at a distance and offers an alternative. "How about I help you, and explain what happened while you were gone."

Katie thinks it over, wanting more than anything to know how their mother has been cooping, but also fearing the outcome of their disappearance. She also doesn't want to owe her sibling anything, but again would rather not have to stall the process any longer. With these thoughts in mind she finally relents. "Fine, you can help. Now I don't know how long you were there, but given the point of view you most likely didn't see much. All you need to do is turn the wrench a few times to the right. The first time is to reconnect the nerves, and after that it's just to make sure nothing is loose."

With the quick explanation done, she positions the wrench where it needs to go. "Now, the most effective way to do this is with the element of sur-PRISE!" Katie shouts out the last syllable as Matt twist the wrench to the right, connecting the nerves. "Well, you got it." she grunts out as she falls back in pain.

Matt gives a slight chuckle and continues tightening the bolt as Katie gets used to her leg once again, such as wiggling her toes and rotating her ankle. Matt asks what's probably on everyone's mind. "So Katie you mind explain what the heck that was all about?"

"I truly don't know, I guess it's just the fact that everyone on Earth thought that we were dead, and than proceeded to place the blame on me with ''Technical Failure''. They weren't even being subtle, everyone knows I was in charge of making sure the ship ran smoothly. And not to mention, but Shiro is the same Shiro that Keith has been watching over, and so I'm just kicking myself for not being able to get him out as well." She admits, for once glad to have her brothers presence.

"You know we never believed them right?" Matt inquires as he finishes up. Katie only gives her brother a skeptical look before turning away. "No really, Mom was upset that I was joining the garrison, but I explained that I wanted to get your equipment, and maybe find answers. Mom was against it, but I wore her down eventually"

"I'm sure that worked out well, by the time she said yes she was probably gunning for some peace." Katie says with a half hearted chuckle, but quickly loses the battle for normalcy.

"How bad was it when you got the news?" She asks, almost afraid of the answer.

Matt gets a far off look as he begins recollecting what happened during the year. "Everything reminded us of you guys, the food mom made reminded us of the last family dinner we had. Your room remained untouched, I even locked it for a while, but unlocked when I wanted to be closer to you. Obviously the garrison kept your things, which I got back, your welcome. And Gunther is forever the same, wonder what he will do when he learned that you replaced him with a robot?"

Katie smiles at the recollection and the thought of the family's bull terrier. Matt falls back to lay beside his sister, and throws and arm over her head. "So what happened to you on the ship?"

Katie sighs, "When we separated and I got to their cell with the help of Rover there," She begins pointing at the droid hooked up to the counsel near green, "The moment those doors opened, they all flinched away, but the moment the tall one with multiple arms, the one with the single antenna, saw me he called me the Amazonian." She turns away from her brother and curls up. The static of the voice module masking her next words. "I just want to forget."

Matt sits up and holds out a hand. "Well, it's almost time for lunch, and I'm sure that thing around your neck will annoy the others, so while you work on your leg, I'll work on that."

Katie stares back before giving off a quick crackled laugh. "No way am I having you mess with this, so just sit there and look pretty while I finish up."

Satisfied with the uplifted demeanor, Matt does just that before they head off to look for the others for lunch.

* * *

What started as a good bonding experience for the two quickly turned sour for all at the feel of handcuffs connecting them together. Katie herself is close to the head of the table next to Allura's seat, and down the line is Matt, Shiro, Hunk, and finally Lance.

It's going good considering they can't eat without pulling the others along, but sometime during the whole meal a tug forces everyone to one side, that same tug causes Katie to face plant in her plate of goo and come up with bits clinging to her face and hair. With goo stained face, and the withheld snickers of her brother she turns towards the princess. "This is all well and good, but isn't there some other bonding exercise that we can do that doesn't require us getting shot at or being handcuffed together?"

"Oh come on Katie, let the Princess treat us like little toys for now, we can get revenge later." Her brother says, and from the smirk, Katie knows he's planning something. Matt and Shiro share a look, as Coran exclaims. "Don't even think of revenge another moment, the Princess only wishes to assist in forming Voltron. and to do that, you five must work together."

"Than I hope everyone works with me on this." and after Matt says that there's a plate full of the green goo flying at the Princess, Katie tries to hold her wrist still, and the goo instead stops and heads towards the advisor. For his part, Coran is barely surprised and responds in kind, that being throwing a ladle full of the stuff and bathing them all.

Hunk makes the next move by slamming his face into his own plate and spitting it out at the Alteans. After that, it's an all out food fight like seen movies. Everyone there has smiles on their faces, and Katie feels herself truly relax around everyone. Allura looks up suddenly once the war has ended, an ominous tone in her voice, "Don't you see what you're doing?" that's wiped away by the look of pure glee she reveals. "You're finally working together."

The next time they try to form Voltron it works.

* * *

The five humans relax in the what has been dubbed the common room by this point, all trying to form a bond by sharing stories of their past and home, in a less invasive way than the headgear.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa! What did you do to get detention in kindergarten?" Lance asks as the rest try to imagine the kind of girl their leader used to be.

Katie laughs at the memory. "So there was this one boy named Jeremy who hated the fact that I liked blocks and robots. Every time I went to play with them he would yank the toy out of my hand and replace it with a barbie, or one of those family dolls. So during nap time, I realized that the teacher would mess around on her phone, and poured glue on the barbies to make them unwanted, thus forcing the school to replace them, which didn't occur for a few days, thus leaving no other toys but the robots and blocks."

"OK, how did they find out it was you?" Shiro inquires leaning in.

"I told them, Mom didn't raise a liar." She replies bluntly, and Matt nearly chokes on his hydration pouch.

"That's what mom meant by following in your footsteps. We have much to learn from your stories, right Shiro?"

"Now I know why mom said you were such a terror."

Everyone stops at that, and Katie slowly turns towards the raven haired youth. "What?"

Shiro answers completely unaware of Matt frantically shaking his head. "Mom always said that you were a terror growing up, and that I would only get ideas by hearing stories."

"Matt, explain." It's only than that Shiro realizes what he said.

"Oh shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> duh duh duh, not sure how many of you understand what is going on at the end, but hopefully you do. Keep the comments coming and let me know what you all think of the chapter or story in general. I would love to read your guys thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> I chose the title Finch for this chapter, after a small bird many will keep as pets. If you think about Pidge or Katie in this case, she is the smallest, and is now caged.
> 
> For those of you who have read the story before I rewrote it. I would like to here your opinion on what you like better as of right now.
> 
> The one where the paladins are still the same, and the only thing to switch are the ages of Pidge and Shiro
> 
> Or the rewritten version with Pidge and Shiro switching ages, and Matt and Keith switching ages.
> 
> Again please leave your choice in the comments below
> 
> Tell me what you all think about the story, Until next time, Blue out.


End file.
